THE MEDICINE MAN IN NATAL AND ZULULAND. 20i 



In eitlier contingency the doctor is unruffled and philosophical, 



and may say with Milton 



I argue not 

 Against Heaven's liaml or will, nor bate a jot 

 Of heart and hope: l>nt still hear up and steer 

 Right onward. 



He probably has several cases in hand at once, and conies out well 

 enough on the average. His medicine is slow working; if a 

 recovery ensues months after he last saw the jxitient, the credit 

 is claimed by him — but he does not always get the cash. 



There are grades in the profession. Some medicine men 

 never aspire to be anything more than herbalists jnire and simple 

 — a sort of family doctor in ordinary ailments, and aliandoned 

 for one of higher reputation when complications arise. Others, 

 more ambitious, may be regarded as specialists, and will be sent 

 for from long distances, or lengthy journeys undertaken to visit 

 them. They are not averse to breaking fresh ground in new 

 districts in the expectation that their presence will bring them 

 further work to the discomfiture of the local practitioners. Some 

 n/icn have secured fame in cases of snake bite. They have high 

 confidence in their own abilities, and claim great achievements. 

 One man, well accredited locally, informed me that he had never 

 had a failure even with a black mamba { Dendraspis aiK/itsticcps) 

 or puff adder (Bitis arietans) — a strong claim, and doubtful of 

 credence. He gave me some of his isibiba, or snake cure, about 

 the size of a ginger biscuit, not unlike cow dung in appearance, 

 with an assurance that if it were dissolved in water and 

 swallowed within a reasonable time^ — the sooner the better— the 

 result was certain. Unfortunately no opportimity for testing it 

 has presented itself. It is indeed difficult to test and authenticate 

 a reputed cure. One case seemed hopeful. A girl was said to 

 have been bitten by a black mamba, and the Chief's own special 

 doctor, who happened to be within call, successfully admin- 

 istered the antidote. I was satisfied that the girl had been bitten, 

 and that there had been a swelling, and the evidence that it was 

 a black mam'ba appeared irrefutable, as it had been killed and 

 identified without question. Later on, I closely interrogated the 

 girl, and she admitted that she had not actually seen the snake. 

 as it was in the long grass, but that the next day a black mamba 

 had been killed in tlie vicinit\ — the conclusion beino- certain that 

 this was the reptile which had attacked her. More ])rabably the 

 snake was one of less lethal ],i)\\er: the venom of a mamba acts 

 with great rapidity and certaintx'. and half-an-hour's delay might 

 place the victim l)e\i;n.d hope <if recovery. Some of these snake 

 doctors appear to be tliemsehes immune by a process of pre- 

 inoculation. One man of renown in the Umvoti district could 

 allow himself to be bitten with impunity. Probably each snake 

 bite ftirtlier fortified his system. Btit in his old age he succumbed 

 to the poison. He was bitten by a snake he had caught, and trusting 

 to his usual immunity took none of the antidotes for which he 

 was famous. Evidently loo long a period had elapsed since his 



